Posts Tagged ‘Galgorm Castle’

The fans were promised thrills and spills and the final day of the Galgorm Resort & Spa Northern Ireland Open presented by Modest! Golf delivered in style.
Shoot-out Sunday at Galgorm Castle produced tension and excitement with a flurry of eagles, birdies, and a remarkable albatross from Portugal’s Ricardo Santos.
In the end, Frenchman Robin Sciot-Siegrist survived five rounds of six-hole stroke play matches to lift the NI Open trophy.
The 23-year-old, in his first full season on the Challenge Tour, beat Italian Alessandro Tadini by two shots to collect the 28,888 euro first prize.
“It’s great. It’s my first full year as a pro so I am so happy because I’ve been working really hard this winter and holding this trophy, I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just pure joy,” he said.“It’s unbelievable how many people are here this week – everything is full, the grandstands, it’s incredible how these crowds come out in Northern Ireland.”
Organisers and sponsors of this year’s event took something of a gamble by opting to ditch the traditional 72-hole stroke play format but it made for a highly entertaining final day, one that was embraced by the vast majority of the players.
Home hope, Cormac Sharvin, bowed out in the opening round, beaten by Santos but not surprisingly, Sciot-Siegrist was something of a convert.
“The format is great. Six holes, you have to be really in it from the very beginning, you don’t have a chance to make any mistakes, and it’s great to change the format from what we usually play and I really enjoyed it,” he said.

“I played something similar in La Cala in Spain and would like to see more of this type of format. I really like the match play style. I’ve played a lot of this type of golf and enjoy one on one, playing another guy instead of the course. I hope it will happen again in the future.”

After three rounds of strokeplay, the top 24 made it through to the matchplay stages on Sunday. Having qualified in mid-table, Robin made hard work of coming through yesterday’s early rounds and looked certain to lose out in the final against German Christian Braeunig.He led by one playing the last hole before his German opponent chipped in for eagle, leaving the eventual winner with a nerve-jangling birdie putt to force an extra hole.
He duly holed it and, on the short play-off hole, put his tee shot to six foot for a birdie putt he would make; Braeunig’s tee shot was even closer but his putt lipped out and Sciot-Siegrist advanced.
He played some of his best golf in the final against Tadini who had beaten Daan Huizing, Matthias Schwab and Bradley Neil to reach the final two.
Sciot-Siegrist had makeable birdie putts on five of the six holes, converting three of them, including on the final hole, for a deserved victory.
“I played seven tournaments on the Challenge Tour last year and this is my first full season, so I knew what the level was,” added Robin, whose mother hails from Dublin.“My goal has always been to win and I’m very happy I achieved that. It was obviously a very difficult win but enjoyable.”Braeunig beat Neil for a career-best finish of third with Nemecz fifth, Ross Kellett sixth, Schwab seventh and Ricardo Santos – who came from behind in his second round match to win courtesy of an outrageous albatross on the final hole – completing the top eight.

The stage is set for an action-packed final day at the Galgorm Resort & Spa Northern Ireland Open presented by Modest! Golf.
Following three rounds of stroke play and two cuts, the field of 156 has been reduced to 24 players for today’s Shootout Sunday.
In this new format, competitors will engage in a series of head-to-head knock-out stroke play matches, with the player with the lowest total score over six holes progressing through the rounds.
A special shootout hole, a shortened version of the 18th, will be used should a playoff be required after any of the games.
Cormac Sharvin will carry home hopes into Sunday after booking his place in today’s finale with a fine five-under-par 66 that saw him move up 21 places on the leaderboard.
The Ardglass golfer will meet Portugal’s Ricardo Santos in round one this morning for the chance to face Chile’s Nico Geyger.
“I know Ricardo very well – I played a lot of Algarve golf with him in the winter,” said Cormac.
“He’s a really nice guy and he is obviously very experienced – he has played a lot of years on the European Tour.

“It will be a tough game but I think, If I can keep playing the way that I am playing – if I play well for six holes – I think I can beat him.”

Cormac was the only Irish golfer to make the third round cut which fell at five under par. Tournament ambassador Michael Hoey carded a third round one under par 70 to miss out as did Damien McGrane, Simon Thornton, Kevin Phelan and Neil O’Briain.
The 24-year-old Sharvin was weighing up his tactics ahead of his opening tee-shot today at 8.30am.
“It’s hard to know with this format. All you can do is play well and hope that it’s good enough,” he added.
“You are essentially playing your opponent but it is stroke play as well. It’s a weird format but obviously, if you are two or three shots ahead playing the last you will play it as a three-shotter.
“The beauty of this format is that you can shoot four over for six holes and still potentially make it through.
“All you can do is take it one shot at a time. You have to play smart because six holes isn’t very much so you have to take your chances.”
Sharvin at least had the luxury of booking his place in today’s field with some room to spare. A five-man playoff for the final two spots was required to determine the top 24
Austrian Matthias Schwab topped the three round leaderboard on 11 under par but Wil Besseling, Steven Brown, Julian Kunzenbacher, Max Orrin and Manuel Trappel all tied on five under par after 54 holes and had to go down the 18th again.
Orrin’s birdie on the first extra hole took him into Shootout Sunday, with Brown dropping out with a bogey; the other three all parred before Trappel birdied at the second time of asking and took the final place in the top 24.

One cut down, another one to come at this year’s Galgorm Resort & Spa Northern Ireland Open presented by Modest! Golf.
After two days of jockeying for position, the tournament steps up a notch on Saturday with players bidding to finish inside the top 24 and earn a place in Shootout Sunday.
The two-round cut fell at level par on Friday with the magic mark to reach Shootout Sunday hovering around three under.
Ardglass golfer Cormac Sharvin, who finished the day on two under par alongside Irish players Damien McGrane, Simon Thornton and Neil O’Briain was considering a more aggressive approach on Saturday.
“I’m in a pretty good position to get into the last 24. I need one more good round tomorrow,” said Cormac.

“The second cut is around four under at the minute so it’s probably going to go to six.I probably need three or four under par at least tomorrow but you can’t get too aggressive around here.

“I need to be smart, take on flags when they are there but stay away from some tee shots when there is a bit of trouble around.”
Englishman Tom Murray and Scotland’s Ross Kellett lead the way on eight under par, with Austrian Lukas Nemecz a shot further back.
Murray knows how to win on Irish soil, his sole Challenge Tour victory to date came two years ago at the Irish Challenge in Co Carlow, and he is looking forward to the weekend’s contest.
“I don’t know what it is about Ireland but whether it’s south of the border or here up north, it seems to bring out the best in me,” said the 27-year-old.
“The course set up here is probably the best of the year and it feels like a European Tour event, so that helps boost everything, and everything around the event is so good. I’m playing well and putting well, the greens are perfect, so it’s so far so good.
“I was talking to Dominic Foos today on the course about the Shootout Sunday and we were saying how it’s hard, because at the moment it’s just playing like a normal tournament, so we don’t know what to expect really.

“You’ve just got to approach tomorrow how you normally would and go and try to win the tournament, all the boring stuff, shot by shot, then see where we are come Sunday and see what happens.”her back on seven under.”

A total of 73 players made it through to Saturday’s third round with just eight shots separating first from last. Amongst them was tournament ambassador Michael Hoey who had fully expected to miss the cut after following his opening round 69 with a 72 to finish on one under par.
“My game is not far away but it’s just not quite there. It was the same yesterday. I just left a few shots out there,” said Michael.
“The swing is good but I’m just not dialled in enough.”
Play gets underway this morning at 8.30am with the leaders going out at 10.30am.
In the event of a tie for 24th, a sudden death play-off will take place before a draw tomorrow evening to decide the match-play pairings.

Niall Horan might sing about “Slow Hands” but there will be nothing pedestrian when the action gets underway at this week’s Galgorm Resort & Spa Northern Ireland Open, presented by Modest!Golf at Galgorm Castle.
The team at Modest! have shaken things up for this year’s showpiece tournament on the international schedule with the eagerly anticipated Shootout Sunday element introduced for the first time.
It’s a brand-new format for the final day where the last remaining players will come down the stretch competing in a knockout format in front of large crowds rather than the traditional four rounds of strokeplay.
“We wanted to put a little twist on it, maybe modernise the format a bit. Golf can be perceived as a little slow and we wanted to speed things up, add more excitement,” said Horan, at this week’s announcement of their fourth player signing, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez from Spain, to the boutique management company.

“The format forces games to play six holes and make it down the 18th and build the atmosphere with a stadium finish. It also helps speed up play and gets people interested that perhaps don’t play golf.”

Introducing new people to the game and nurturing new talent is everything the Modest! team stand for. It’s one of the reasons they elevated their commitment to the NI Open this year to become the presenting sponsor alongside main title sponsor, Galgorm Resort & Spa, who have supported tournament golf at Galgorm Castle from the outset.
“This is the closest thing to a European Tour event these boys will play in. The reaction from the players has been great. You could see the smiles on their faces when we explained the new format,” added Horan.

Before the action begins in earnest on Thursday, the small matter of the Ambassadors Shootout (Tuesday) and the NI Open Pro-am (Wednesday) is the focus with stars from the sporting and entertainment world taking to the course alongside Tournament Ambassador Michael Hoey.
“Each year we have grown this great event to become even bigger and better than before. In 2017, we now have legends such as Pat Jennings and Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill plus star names like Stephen Ferris and David Healy joining us to have some fun and promote the best attended event on the European Challenge Tour schedule,” said Hoey, a five-time European Tour winner.
“I welcome the many great names who have thrown their name in the hat and will support this year’s NI Open. GAA is represented by Oisin McConville, snooker’s Mark Allen, motorsport’s William Dunlop and athletics star Michael McKillop are among the new NI Open ambassadors.”

Knock’s Colin Fairweather came out on top of a three-way playoff to win the 36-hole Northern Ireland Amateur Open sponsored by Specsavers Ballymena.
The 26-year-old birdied the first extra hole at Galgorm Castle to beat Thomas Mulligan (Laytown & Bettystown) and former winner, Tiarnan McLarnon (Massereene GC).
In doing so, the 26-year-old, earned a place in the field alongside the professionals at the Galgorm Resort & Spa Northern Ireland Open, Presented by Modest! Golf (Aug 10-13).
“I just wanted to win. I wasn’t really thinking about the chance of playing in the NI Open,” said Colin who lost out to Rowan Lester (Hermitage) in the final of the North of Ireland Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush.
“I didn’t get it last week, but I got that winning feeling again today. It didn’t matter where it was or what tournament it was in. I just wanted to win something, especially after last week when I finished runner-up at Royal Portrush.

“It took me a wee while to get over that so it was great to bounce back so quickly. I’ve always wanted to play in the Challenge Tour event as well, so this win meant an awful lot to me.”

Thomas Mulligan

Colin was leading by one playing the final hole when he lost his ball off the tee. He eventually made a bogey six at the par-five to force his way into the playoff alongside McLarnon and Mulligan.
“It was really tough today, even though the weather was perfect. They have let the rough grow up with the Challenge Tour event in mind,” added Colin.
“I felt I had the advantage on the hole because I was the longest off the tee. I was determined to stay aggressive, you only have one shot at a playoff.”
The trio went back down the 18th and Colin didn’t make the same mistake in sudden death, hitting a long drive down the fairway before firing a seven-iron onto the green to set up a two-putt birdie from 20 feet.
McLarnon missed a five-footer for his birdie, while Mulligan lost a ball off the tee, and though he still managed a par, it was Fairweather who took the spoils.
While Mulligan lost out in the playoff, the 17-year-old had already secured the second NI Open place up for grabs courtesy of Modest! Golf’s invite for the leading under-18 player.
“It’s great, I came here to secure the under-18 invite and massive thanks to Modest! Golf for the opportunity,” said the Leinster player, who also represented GB&I in the Jacques Leglise Trophy in 2016.
“I had a poor second round but am delighted to have earned my place in the NI Open and I can’t wait to play here again in a few weeks.”
Entry to the NI Open is free, simply register online at http://www.niopen.golf.
This year’s event introduces the exciting new Shootout Sunday knockout format, which is sure to provide plenty of drama for the players and spectators.

Faith, Theo and Noah gearing up for the GolfNow Junior NI Open 2017 at Galgorm Castle Golf Club

GolfNow, the leader in online tee time technology, has renewed their sponsorship of the NI Open for the third year in a row and this year will launch a brand new interactive family event at the tournament.In conjunction with the NI Open, presented by Modest! Golf, GolfNow will host the Junior NI Open to run alongside the main tournament at the Interactive Zone, where children aged 6–9 and 10–13 can take part in the boys and girls competition.Families stand to win a brand new set of junior TaylorMade clubs for their children. Alongside this great prize, NI Open hosts Galgorm Castle will provide a junior membership to each lucky winner, while the NI Open’s presenting sponsor, Modest! Golf Management, will also be supporting the Junior NI Open with Modest! Golf prizes.Andrew Hollywood, Marketing Director at GolfNow, said: “We are committed to growing the game of golf and have developed a fantastic junior tournament in line with the main event. The NI Open has a fun interactive zone at the tournament every year and this time around we have a fun competition that is open to junior golfers and is free to enter.

“It was important to create something that the whole family can take part in and make starting out on a golf course a less intimidating place.”

Ross Oliver, NI Open Event Manger, commented: “We are delighted to have GolfNow’s continued support for the NI Open. The introduction of the Junior NI Open by GolfNow is a fantastic addition to the event and augments the message that the NI Open is truly a golf tournament for all the family.”To take part in the Junior NI Open, simply pop along to the Interactive Zone, enjoy a free lesson from PGA Professionals, pick up your competition card from the GolfNow team and hit the pitch and putt course. The competition will run on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of tournament week (August 10-13) with the winners announced at 2pm on the final day.Entry to the NI Open is FREE, simply register for your free tickets online at http://www.niopen.golf or download the NI Open app.

Ryan Fox plays into the 18th on his way to victory at last year’s NI Open (Photo by PressEye)

It’s all change for this year’s NI Open at Galgorm Castle in the shape of a new format and a new presenting sponsor, Modest! Golf.
Now in its fifth year, the NI Open is one of the best-supported events on the Challenge Tour schedule, both in terms of attendances and depth of field.
This year the NI Open has embraced the European Tour’s vision of introducing fresh new ideas and innovation to professional golf with the introduction of Shootout Sunday.
At this year’s event 156 players will tee it up ahead of the traditional 36-hole cut, before a 54-hole cut on Saturday followed by five rounds of six-hole strokeplay matches in what will be a high octane and dramatic #ShootoutSunday.
Note the fact that it is Strokeplay. This tweak sets the event apart from the recent Super 6’s in Perth and ensures that every match will finish on the 18th (see below for full details).
Tournament ambassador Michael Hoey has backed the changes.
“The NI Open comes hot on the heels of the Irish Open and what is being devised here at Galgorm is an exciting new twist which sets it apart from anything we’ve ever had in Northern Ireland,” said Hoey, a five–time European Tour winner, who finished eighth at Galgorm in 2016 behind winner Ryan Fox from New Zealand.

“We have spoken to several players about the change in format, including last year’s winner Ryan, and all agreed that the new format is an extremely exciting new prospect. The NI Open’s unique and innovative strokeplay matches on the Sunday are a first for professional golf and is sure to be a highlight on the global golfing calendar.

Niall Horan and the Modest! team

“The new format is certain to be more entertaining for spectators, especially with holes like the redesigned par three seventh sure to throw up plenty of drama as crowds converge at strategic parts of the course.”
The innovation has also been backed by Mark McDonnell, Director of Modest Golf.“We are delighted to return to the NI Open, this time as Presenting Sponsor. We love working alongside the European Challenge Tour and Galgorm Castle and this year is set to be bigger and better than ever before,” he said.Fellow Modest! Golf Director Niall Horan commented: “We are excited to be returning to the NI Open and introducing a brand new format. Shootout Sunday will be an exciting concept, both for the players and for spectators.”
The NI Open’s exciting new format offers a new dimension that complements the staging of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Portstewart earlier in the holidays.
Interactive and family events will also be on site at Galgorm Castle during the NI Open and one of the province’s sporting highlights will once again have FREE entry for all spectators.

The NI OPEN 2017
Round 1: 156 players begin three rounds of strokeplay
Round 2: 36-hole cut following close of play (Top 60 and ties)
Round 3: 54-hole cut following close of play (Top 24) to include play-off if required

NI Open Shootout Sunday: Five rounds of six-hole strokeplay matches
– The top eight players after 54 holes of strokeplay will receive a bye into the second round of matches and will be seeded.
– The remaining 16 players (positions 9-24) will be randomly paired for the first round matches.
– If there are any ties for 24th position, a sudden-death play-off (18th hole) will determine the qualifiers following the completion of 54 holes.
– The losing quarter-finalists will contest matches to determine positions 5-8 and the losing semi-finalists will contest a match to determine 3-4.
-Any matches level after six holes will be determined by playing the 1st hole (rounds one and two) or a shortened version of the 18th hole (quarter finals, semi-finals and final) as a sudden-death play-off hole.

Brian McElhinney isn’t the only player capable of racking up multiple wins on the PGA in the North of Ireland circuit.
Spa professional, Gary Wardlow, made it two victories on the bounce by winning the Ping PGA Ulster Golfers’ Alliance tournament, at St Patrick’s Golf Club, Downpatrick.
The highlight of Gary’s round was a rare eagle two at the par-four 364-yard 16th when he hammered his drive to inside three feet.
He also managed to add five birdies in a five under par 64 that gave him a five shot victory over Damien Mooney and Simon Thornton.

Gary Wardlow

A recent winner at Ballycastle GC, Gary made a strong start, grabbing back-to-back birdies at the second and third. He added another birdie at the sixth, rolling in a five-footer on his way to a mistake free front nine of three under 32.
He reached five under for the day with back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th.
His first mistake of the round came at the par four 14th when he found the trees off the tee but repaired all of the damage with his eagle at the 16th. He then found the sand with his approach at the 17th for another dropped shot.
His back nine of two under par 32 saw him home with something to spare over his nearest rivals.
Galgorm Castle player Ciarán Doherty snatched the amateurs’ top nett prize from Laurence Hale (Shandon Park), on the back nine, after they both posted 42 points.
The gross prize was won with 35 points by Clandeboye’s Mark McCrory.
Wardlow climbed to winner’s rostrum for a second time as he led home the winning team, after combining with Spa amateurs Jimmy Kelly and Patrick McCluskey plus Phil McKenna (Whitehead) to card 94 points.

Northern branch chairman, Phil Collins, clicked into top gear at Royal Belfast to win the Ping PGA Ulster Golfers’ Alliance Tournament.
The Galgorm Castle professional posted a four under par 66 to hold off Chris Carvill (Belvoir Park) by a shot.
Sand trouble at both the first and fourth holes cost Collins two early bogeys but he drove the green at the third for his opening birdie of the day and got down in two putts from 30 feet at the long fifth to wipe out those mistakes.
He collected further birdies at the seventh – where he fired an eight-iron approach into close range – and the eighth to reach the turn in two under par
He dropped another shot at the 11th but then finished strongly with birdies at the 14th, 16th and 18th.
Five-handicapper Declan Laverty (Castlerock) won the top nett prize from Michael Alexander 6 (Galgorm Castle) on countback after both carded 41 points, while JR Galbraith (Whitehead), the recent runner-up in the Argentinian Amateur Open, took the gross award with a 68.
Ballyclare pro Colin Lyttle led home the winning team of Ian Witherspoon 4 (Ballyclare), Henry Eagleson 7 and Jim Hanna 14 (both Ballymena) on 90 points.

Kiwi Ryan Fox equalled the course record at Galgorm Castle as he stormed to victory at the Tayto Northern Ireland Open in partnership with Ulster Bank.
The 29-year-old, who will represent New Zealand at the Rio Olympics, fired a nine under par 62 to finish on 19 under par, winning by four shots.
“It was a pretty good day. To be honest I played exactly how I played all week but got really hot with the putter,” said Ryan, the son of New Zealand All-Black legend, Grant Fox.
“I played really solid from tee to green the whole week. Today I left myself a lot of makeable putts, it got hot and it was nice to keep seeing the ball going in.
“I thought I was flirting with the magical number for a while, but a three putt on 16 didn’t help that.
“It’s tricky out there. If you drive it in the rough it’s brutal, I found that out a couple of times today. To shoot 62 in the last round and win is pretty awesome. I’m pretty happy.”
Tournament ambassador Michael Hoey played in the same group as Fox but never managed to get close enough to threaten the eventual winner.
“I’m happy to have done something this week. I wasn’t at my best, but I’m happy that I did something in the tournament after missing the cut the last few years and not being able to give anything to the crowds,” said Michael.

“I really enjoyed playing with Ryan. He was 10 under after 15, he’s definitely a top 50 in the world player.

“That was phenomenal shooting today. I thought six or seven under might be good enough but the standard out here is so high and they can shoot the scores, especially when the greens are so good.”Hoey finished the event alone in eighth on 13 under par after a final round 68.
“It was good fun out there. Most enjoyable time on the course I’ve had all year. Best I’ve played all year. I just have to take this form into the rest of the season,” added Michael who has struggled to find any real consistency on the European Tour this season.“I felt after a few holes that I had a chance. Missing my drive on nine didn’t help (he could only manage a par to Fox’s birdie) and I lost a bit of momentum and adrenalin over the closing holes when I knew I wasn’t going to win.
“It was good to get a little bit of excitement and the crowds are always fantastic at Galgorm, they are not dissimilar to Irish Open crowds in some ways.”

The German duo of Dominic Foos (65) and Bernd Ritthammer (65), England’s Max Orrin (65) and South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli (69) finished in second.
Damien McGrane carded a final round 68 to finish tied for ninth on 11 under with Castledawson’s Chris Selfridge a shot further back on 10 under after a closing 69.
“I played my best golf of the week today, and finished with 16 pars and two birdies. I just kept burning the edge,” said the 24-year-old.
“It was just one of the those days and was a disappointing end to the tournament.
“I really didn’t play that good this week and I putted so well to be where I was this week and then the opposite happened today.
“I hit a great putt on the last and it just burned the edge. It’s so frustrating but it’s another good week I did great on Thursday to shoot even par and progressed from there. I’m disappointed, yes. but at the same time it is a good week.”